Students & Families Adult Education Adult & Community Learning Services
Adult and Community Learning Services

SMARTT Update, April 2009

1. Program Plan Changes for FY10
   There are several changes in program planning for FY10. Here is a brief description of the changes, but please plan to attend the ABE Program Design Regional Refresher Trainings and SMARTT Updates focusing on Program Planning listed below to review the changes in more detail. Please be sure also to read Anne Serino's cover memo to the continuation RFP.

   • Focus on Intensity - To address challenging economic times and to respond to rising unemployment rates, layoffs, and jobs demanding higher skills, there is a new emphasis on providing greater access to intensive instructional services to students who can benefit from such services. Program Planning for FY10 includes the option of regulatory flexibility in specific areas for programs that are able to increase instructional intensity.
     • To allow programs to offer one or more classes of nine hours or more of instruction per week, ACLS has modified some of the program planning regulations for these programs, such as:
       • Changes in summer class offerings
       • Waiving the 20% cap on non-rates classes
       • Waiving the 32 week requirement (while maintaining minimum 150 hours/year)
   • Focus on Next Steps - Support for students in preparing for their next steps can include integration of next-step-focused services into rate based classes, as well as non rate based offerings.
   • Increase in Rates for Class Sizes - Salaries increased in FY08 by 1.5%; since salaries account for about 80% of class costs statewide, the net impact is an overall increase to class costs of 1.2%.
   • Decrease in Funding Allocation - Population changes in Massachusetts have resulted in a decrease to our federal allocation, so some programs will see a small cut. Note that the state appropriation is not finalized at this time.
   • New Program Plan Versioning - Programs will have the option of creating several working plans so they can "try out" various class plan and program plan scenarios and have the option of submitting any one of these working plans for approval.
   • Abbreviated Staff Plan - There are two options for completing the FY10 staffing chart. While some find the original, more detailed chart to be a helpful planning tool, an abbreviated staffing chart that combines many similar functions has been developed for those who no longer need the more detailed tool. Either staffing chart is acceptable, at the refunding applicant's discretion.
   • New Required Budget Narrative Format - Programs will be required to use this new format in Excel. Programs must provide the minimum information listed, and may provide additional information if it is useful.
   
   
2. ABE Program Design Regional Refresher Trainings and SMARTT Updates focusing on Program Planning
   
   • The following ABE Program Design Refresher trainings and SMARTT Updates focusing on Program Planning will be held in each region the end of April or early May. All SABES regional centers have scheduled the SMARTT Updates focusing on Program Planning immediately following the ABE Program Design Refresher trainings.
   • SABES has agreed to handle the registrations for both sessions. The refresher training is provided by ESE/ACLS staff member, Donna Cornellier, and the SABES regional field technologists will offer the updates that are held in the computer labs. To register for these trainings, please go to http://calendar.sabes.org and click on your region, or, you may contact your regional SABES office directly.
   • Please register for these trainings at least 2 weeks prior to the training date.
     
     

     AM: ABE Program Design Refresher	9:30 - 12:00
     PM: SMARTT Update Focus: Program Planning	1:00 - 3:00

     
     

     Date	SABES Region	Place	AM Room	PM Room
     4/27/09	NE	Northern Essex Community College	L244	L241
     4/29/09	West	Holyoke Community College	KC222	KC222
     4/30/09	Central	MWCC/Devens Learning Center	127	101
     5/1/09	Southeast	Bristol Community College	L103	L104
     5/4/09	Boston	ACLS/ESE Malden	137 A/B	327

     
     

3. Program Plan Rollovers to FY10
   All program plans will be rolled over to FY10 on April 21st. If you receive federal funding and have any changes to summer classes offered between 7/1/09 and 8/31/09, please make sure to make those changes now. Discuss the changes with your Program Specialist, make the changes in the FY09 program plan, and submit the changes for approval. Make sure that you do not make any changes to current classes offered this fiscal year. Once the plan is moved to FY10, it is more difficult to revert it back to FY09 to make the changes for summer classes.

4. New Online SMARTT Manual
   The new SMARTT Manual has been released in an online format. The manual also signifies the advent of the system moving from SMARTT 2 Plus to SMARTT 3. The name change to SMARTT 3 marks the culmination of various progressive changes performed over the past few years. The only visible change currently is the addition of the online SMARTT Manual.

   You can access the online SMARTT Manual in the following ways:

   1. By using the address of the online SMARTT Manual: http://smartt.doemass.org/help
   2. By using the newly created "help" menu option at the top of the left hand side menu in SMARTT.
   3. To go along with the new online manual, "context sensitive" help has also been released for all data panels in SMARTT. When users click on the question mark at the top right corner of a panel, a popup will appear with that specific panel's help information. You can also access general SMARTT help through this same popup.
   4. When viewing the new online SMARTT manual, you can access a PDF version of the manual by clicking on the acrobat icon at the top right hand corner.

   The "Quick guide" link has been removed from the ACLS website while its use is being re-evaluated. If the decision is made to release an updated "Quick Guide," an announcement to that effect will be made at that time.

5. GED Data Matching - Completed on 4/7/2009
   The latest GED data match information with Oklahoma Scoring Service is listed below:

   • One Hundred Twenty (120) records were matched for students who attended classes in FY09. One hundred and ten (110) students set the goal, which is ninety two (92%). Ten (10) students, or 8%, did not set the goal and will not be included in the Federal Report.

   Remember that we cannot include in the Federal Report the achievement of any goal, if that goal was not set. It is important to meet with students on a regular basis to make sure goals are set, new goals are identified, and the dates set are entered into the system

6. Federal Reports are Ready for Testing
   The site level Federal Report Tables 1 - 4B in Cognos are now ready to be tested. ACLS is seeking programs that would like to test Table 4: Educational Gains and Attendance by Educational Functioning Level by receiving data files from ACLS to ensure that correct data appears in each column. If you would like to test the report, please e-mail Donna Cornellier, SMARTT Team Leader, and Sriram Rajan, Cognos Developer, at: dcornellier@doe.mass.edu and srajan@doe.mass.edu.

   Table 1:	Participants by Entering Educational Functioning Level, Ethnicity, and Gender
   Table 2:	Participants by Age, Ethnicity, and Gender
   Table 3:	Participants by Program Type and Age
   Table 4:	Educational Gains and Attendance by Educational Functioning Level
   Table 4B:	Educational Gains and Attendance by Educational Functioning Level (includes only students who received pre and post tests)

   
   
7. SMARTT Training Schedule

   • The next SMARTT New User training is scheduled for May 1st at UMass Boston/ALRI.. SMARTT Updates focusing on "Program Planning" are being held in all the regions between April 27th and May 4th. Check the SABES calendar for dates and times. To register for these and other trainings, please go to http:\\www.calendar.sabes.org and click on your region; or, you may contact your regional office directly.

   
   

Questions? Please contact Donna Cornellier at dcornellier@doe.mass.edu